MI5 are concerned by the speed at which British teenager, Brusthom Ziamamni, became radicalized. The 19 year-old was arrested last August, as he carried a 12 inch knife in a black Islamist flag. He was later found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier.

The intelligence agency
fears Ziamani’s case highlights the rise of a new wave of
Islamist extremists who can be radicalized in mere weeks to
conduct terror attacks.

Fanatical extremists are targeting volatile young Muslims in
Britain who are susceptible to warped preaching and can rapidly
be transformed from disenchanted youths to dangerous jihadists,
MI5 warns.

Ziamamni was intercepted by police in Whitechapel, East London
last August after a counter-terror officer recognized him as a
man wanted for spreading extremist ideology.

After searching Ziamamni, officers were rattled by what they
uncovered. The teenager had in his possession a 12-inch blade and
a hammer wrapped carefully in a black Islamist flag.

It later emerged he had researched the location of army cadet
bases, and was on his way to murder a British soldier in an
effort to replicate the brutal beheading of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

Ziamani was found guilty of plotting the murder on Thursday.

UK authorities were reportedly disturbed by the sheer pace of his
path to radicalization. They found his rapid transition from
disaffected teenager to willing terrorist to be both shocking and
unsettling.

Path to radicalization

When MI5 began to delve into the teenager’s background, they
uncovered a history of discontent, petty crime and drugs.

Ziamani grew up in Camberwell, South London, with his mother and
father, who originally hailed from Congo. Known to his close
friends as Bruce, the 19-year-old spent much of his earlier years
attempting to convert people to Christianity.

Sensing his devoutly Christian parents would disapprove of his
new faith, Ziamani hid his Muslim clothing from his father. After
discovering photographs of Islamists on his phone, his parents
were reportedly furious.

A neighbor alleges Ziamani’s father later hurled a bible at his
son, and ordered him to leave the house if he could not abide by
its rules.

The young man subsequently left home, and became homeless for a
period. Ziamani began to attend a Mosque in Camberwell, and
sheltered there until a friend offered him a bed nearby.

His new home was a meeting spot for the outlawed Al-Muhajiroun
group, which was previously led by radical Islamic preacher Anjem
Choudary. Ziamani subsequently became influenced by ideas he was
exposed to in the flat.

He adopted the name Mujahid Karim, and began posting extremist
comments online within weeks of converting to Islam. In one
remark, the teenager declared he was “willing to die in the
cause of Allah.”

‘An impressionable young man’

It emerged during Ziamani’s court case he began to plan a terror
attack in London because he had no means of getting to Syria to
adopt a life of jihadism.

As he attended meetings in the backroom of an east London sweet
shop, his determination to bring Sharia Law to the UK reportedly
grew.

In June 2014, Met officers raided the flat where Ziamani lived
following allegations of unlawful subletting.

He was arrested and later enrolled in a counter-radicalization
program. He failed to relinquish his radical views, however, and
continued to post extremist comments online.

On the day of his arrest in August, Ziamani told his 16-year-old
girlfriend he intended to “kill soldiers.” Further
details relating to his terror plot were contained in a letter
addressed to his parents.

During his trial, Ziamani denied he had plotted to behead a
soldier. He said he was carrying the knife and hammer because he
feared for his safety after he had escaped a credit card theft
operation. He was nevertheless found guilty.